Second suitor looks at T&G

WORCESTER 
Jeff Greene, a flamboyant real estate magnate and billionaire investor who grew up in Worcester, is pursuing an eleventh-hour bid to acquire the Telegram & Gazette, the president of his Coral Gables, Fla.-based investment company said yesterday.

Mr. Greene's interest in buying the newspaper from The New York Times Co. would put him in competition with a local group headed by Ralph D. Crowley Jr., chief executive of Polar Beverages Co. of Worcester, and Harry T. Whitin, recently retired editor of the T&G.

“We are evaluating a lot of business opportunities and that is among them,” said Bret Berlin, president of Florida Sunshine Investments, Mr. Greene's company.

Mr. Berlin declined to say whether Florida Sunshine Investments had submitted a formal bid for the newspaper or whether the Times Co. had accepted an offer.

Abbe Serphos, a spokeswoman for the Times Co., yesterday declined to comment.

Mr. Whitin declined to comment on Mr. Greene's interest in the T&G, but confirmed that the Crowley-Whitin group has submitted a bid to the Times Co., whose officials have said they would likely make a decision this month about selling the newspaper.

Mr. Greene, 54, was listed at No. 355 on Forbes magazine's 2008 list of the 400 richest Americans. His net worth was estimated at $1.4 billion.

He spends five months of the year on his 145-foot yacht, Summerwind, and once provided accommodations for a year to former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss in his Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion when he was single and after she had been released from prison.

Mr. Greene was married two years ago to 34-year-old Mei Sze Chan, a Catskills region, N.Y., real estate company owner, at the couple's 27-acre Beverly Hills estate, at a wedding in which boxer Mike Tyson was best man. Guests at the affair danced until after midnight on a revolving stage in a 24-car garage.

Among the 275 guests were movie director Oliver Stone and Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, The New York Times reported.

Mr. Greene, who recently moved his primary residence to Florida, is also famed for his 24-hour parties that have included such celebrities as Paris Hilton.

A Forbes.com profile of Mr. Greene last year recounted that he grew up in Worcester, son of working-class parents, and played classical trumpet while attending Doherty Memorial High School.

He went on to Johns Hopkins University and entered Harvard University's MBA program in 1977. While earning his business degree, Mr. Greene started buying real estate, making $1 million.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and continued buying more properties.

After some tough times in the real estate market during the 1980s, Mr. Greene rebuilt his finances. His net worth rose to about $700 million by 2006, Forbes reported.

In 2006, Mr. Greene pulled off the financial stroke that catapulted him into billionaire status. As the housing market was reaching its peak, he started trading credit default swaps — complex insurance contracts on real estate investments, mostly subprime mortgages. He is believed to be the first investor to pull off the risky financial maneuver, according to Forbes.

He eventually made $800 million doing it.

In recent months, Mr. Greene's Florida Sunshine Investments bought a Tennessee convenience store chain out of bankruptcy court for $6.25 million and a Kansas oil company.

Mr. Berlin, a former chairman of Florida's Dade County Democratic Committee, said that while Sunshine has never bought a media company, the firm is in an acquisition mode.

As for Mr. Greene's knowledge of the Worcester market, Mr. Berlin said the billionaire has been in the area this year.